{"id":6280,"date":"2019-01-24T11:46:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T17:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/?p=6280"},"modified":"2019-01-24T11:54:39","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T17:54:39","slug":"nba-referee-missed-calls-reasons-and-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/nba-referee-missed-calls-reasons-and-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Referee Missed Calls: Reasons and Solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Authors:<\/strong> Kevin Sigler <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corresponding Author:<\/strong>
Kevin Sigler, PhD
601 College Road
Department of Economics and Finance
Cameron School of Business
UNC Wilmington
Wilmington, NC 28403
siglerk@uncw.edu
910-200-2076<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Sigler is Professor of Finance in the\nCameron School of Business, UNC Wilmington<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBA Referee Missed\nCalls: Reasons and Solutions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

ABSTRACT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper\nexamines officiating in the NBA to determine if it has kept pace with the\nchanges to the game.  This research\nconcludes that since the game is so fast now with athletes that are bigger,\nstronger and faster than any time in NBA history, NBA officiating should\nconsider changing as well.   Some\npossible modifications are adding more referees, allowing each official to sit\nout a portion of the game while being replaced by a fresh alternate, and using\nmore cameras with referees viewing them remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Keywords<\/strong>: National\nBasketball Association, referees, officials<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INTRODUCTION                            <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember the first\ngame of the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals in 2018.  LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were\ntaking on the Golden State Warriors.  It\nwas a very close hard fought game.  The\noutcome of the game really hinged on one play when LeBron drew a charge on\nKevin Durant.  But minutes later the call\nwas changed to a blocking foul on LeBron.  \nIt was a controversial call and even long time NBA referee Steve Javie,\nworking for ESPN as an analyst, was surprised the call was reversed.  Friction between the NBA players and referees\nhas never been higher. This paper examines officiating in the NBA to determine\nif it has kept pace with the changes to the game.  This paper concludes that since the game is\nso fast now with athletes that are bigger, stronger and faster than any time in\nNBA history, NBA officiating should consider changing as well.   Some possible modifications are adding more\nreferees, allowing each official to sit out a portion of the game while being\nreplaced by a fresh alternate, and using more cameras with referees viewing\nthem remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HISTORY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Basketball Association was founded in New\nYork City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of\nAmerica (BAA). The league adopted the name National Basketball\nAssociation on August 3, 1949, after merging with the competing National\nBasketball League (NBL)   The NBA\nreferees banded together in 1973 to form the National Basketball\nOfficials Association (1). This informal union challenged the league over\ninadequate salaries and benefits. Still lacking a collective bargaining\nagreement (CBA) and with an ongoing need to advocate for improved working\nconditions, an official union was founded in 1977 called the National\nAssociation of Basketball Referees. Today, it is known as the National\nBasketball Referees Association (NBRA) (2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBA used two person referee teams to officiate\ngames until the `88-89 season when it began assigning three referees to the\ncrew.  Table 1 contains a diagram of the\nposition of the three officials with the lead (baseline) official (L)\ndetermining the position of the other two officials. Normally, the lead referee\nwill move to the side of the court on the ball side, called the strong side.\nThe official (T for trailing) that is on the same sideline as the lead official\nlines up in a position approximately level with the top of the three-point line\nand is called the trail official. The third official, called the center or slot\nofficial (C), will stand across the court near the free throw line in\nthe center position.\nThe idea is to form triangle coverage of the court. Often, the lead referee\nwill switch sides of the baseline during a play, requiring the trail official\nto move down to be level with the free-throw line and become the new center\nofficial, while the center official will move up and become the trail. As the\nball moves to the other end of the court in transition, the lead official will\nbecome the trail, the trail will become the lead, and the center official will\nremain in the center (unless the new lead moves across the baseline to cover\nthe strong side, in which case the center official and trail would then switch\npositions).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Table<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With the proliferation of three point shots and with fast\nbreak early offense, NBA officials have made subtle changes to facilitate more\naccurate calls.  The trail official has\nmoved closer to the sideline for better angles on three pointers.  The officials are also focusing on plays in\nthe paint because with today\u2019s modern game there are many times multiple\ndefenders are trying to prevent shots in that area.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three game\nofficials are required to do a multitude of tasks.  They have to keep track of any violations of\nthe rules for 10 players at all times as they move over a court 94 feet by 50\nfeet.  And these 10 players are not\nnormal humans.  They are possibly the\nbest athletes in the world and their athletic ability surpasses the players of\npast eras for many reasons.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basketball is now an international sport, and it\nallows NBA teams to select players from around the world.  The best coaches in the USA are now\ninstructing young players abroad, closing the gap between the United States and\nthe rest of the world. The number of non-U.S. players in the NBA has been at a\nrecord high every opening night over recent years \u2013  from a\nrecord-breaking 83 players at opening night in 2009, to 84 the next year, 92 in\n2013 and 101 in 2014 (3) .  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Better training regiments, improvements in surgeries\nand recovering from them, and increased focus on rest andinjury prevention have impacted the length of time player can\nperform at a top level.  This is\nillustrated by how the length of player careers has increased.  In the 1980\u2019s, less than one season was\nplayed per year by someone 37 years or older.  In the 1990\u2019s, it was about three per year and\nover the past few seasons that number has ballooned to seven.  <\/strong>LeBron\nJames spends $1.5 million per year on his body through training and conditioning\n(money well spent)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The salaries in the NBA have exploded with a salary\ncap per team in 2018-19 jumping to $101.9 million.  The pay incentive has only spurred more\nathletes to become basketball players and has increased competition and the\nlevel of play   <\/strong>Referees are required to keep up with\nthese athletes and must transition from one end of the court to the other for\nall 48 minutes of the game and be in position to make the correct call.  With all of this asked from NBA officials,\nthis paper next examines the accuracy of NBA referees\u2019 calls at the end of\ngames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

INCORRECT CALLS AND INCORRECT NON-CALLS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NBA keeps\nstatistics on incorrect call and incorrect non-calls in the last two minutes of\nan NBA game when the score is within three points. The NBA has been doing this\nsince March 2015 to enhance transparency of the game.  Since March 2015 to June 6, 2018, the NBA\nreviewed 26,822 plays from 1,476 games. In\nthose 4,297 minutes of action,\nthe officials have missed or incorrectly called 2,197 plays, or about 8.2\npercent of all calls reviewed. This amounts to 1.49 wrong decisions in\nthe final minutes of each close game (4)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table 2 presents a breakdown on which calls occur most\noften at the end of close games.  The\nfeature that stands out in Table 2 is the number of different calls that are\nmade by three officials chasing 10 of the best athletes in the world during a\ngame (4).  It is amazing that the\nofficials get it right as often as they do. \nCC stands for correct call, IC for incorrect call, and INC stands for\nincorrect non-call that occur in the last 2 minutes of a game with the score\nwithin three points.  The INC is not\nassigned just to one official but is assigned to the three person team of\nreferees.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Table<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Areas where the officiating team miss seeing the\nviolation most are loose balls, offensive fouls, traveling and defensive three\nseconds.  But with all the activity and\nmovement up and down the court by 10 very athletic players, it seems reasonable\nto assume no group of three people, no matter how talented, will see\neverything.  .    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table 3 breaks down incorrect calls and incorrect\nnon-calls by the age for the 55 referees in this sample.  Incorrect non-calls are larger on a per game\nbasis for the officials over 50.  The\nregression results in Table 4 confirm this result.  According to the results, incorrect non-calls\nare statistically significant (at the 5% level) to the age of the official and\nincorrect calls have no significance to age. \nBut the older official is more likely to head up a team of three\nreferees and the incorrect non-call is assigned to each person of the team so\nthis is result should be tempered (5).    \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Table<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Table<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

IT\u2019S NOT AGE \u2013 IT\u2019S THE NUMBER\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the eight gents in the sample this researcher is\nover 60 years old, was a college quarterback and is in great shape today but\ncannot imagine trying to change direction fast enough to be in position to make\na call as LeBron is bolting to his basket after making one of his signature\nblocks at the opponent\u2019s rim.  Especially\nin the last two minutes of a game after officiating all of the previous 46\nminutes.  But it is hard to argue about\nthe quality of each referee.  Most think\nthe referees in the NBA are the best at what they do.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One solution to reduce mistakes at the end of NBA\ngames may be to increase the number of officials on the floor during the\ngame.  The D-League (now the G-League)\nexperimented with more referees on the floor. \nThe league in 2016 use four and five\nperson crews in nine NBA Development League games instead of three in an effort\nto collect data and see if having additional officials involved affects the\ngame.  The idea is to have enough\nofficials so they are placed on the court where they do not have run to catch\nup with the play but, instead, are already in position to make the call (6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is in line with the how the NFL officiates games.  They use seven officials that are placed in\nposition around the 22 players (in the past there was one official between the\ndefensive backs and linebackers).  In\naddition, it is easier for officials to keep up with an NFL game because action\nstops after ever play.  NFL head coaches can also challenge plays that are reviewed to ensure\naccurate calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way to improve end of game calls is by\nrotating officials during games.  Each\nreferee would sit out portions of the game to rest, allowing a fresh official\nto take his or her place on the court. \nNBA players sit out at least part of the game so are they are not\nfatigued, especially at the end of close games when victory is on the\nline.  The NBA could consider doing the\nsame for the referees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One more idea to reduce bad calls is for the\nNBA to add cameras and have one or more officials view the game remotely,\nallowing them to stop play for violations. \nThe cameras put the referee in position to make the proper call instead\nof relying on his or her athletic ability to place themselves in position to\nmake the call.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONCLUSION<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper\nexamines officiating in NBA to determine if it has kept pace with the changes\nto the game.  This research concludes\nthat since the game is so fast now with athletes that are bigger, stronger and\nfaster than any time in NBA history, NBA officiating should consider changing\nas well.   Some possible modifications\nare adding more referees, allowing each official to sit out a portion of the\ngame while being replaced by a fresh alternate, and using more cameras with\nreferees viewing them remotely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

APPLICATIONS IN SPORT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/strong>The ideas presented in this paper can provide a beginning for improving NBA officiating to keep up with the way the NBA game is changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

None<\/p>\n\n\n\n

REFERENCES <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. 1949 the NBA Is Born, 2018,  https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/nba-is-born<\/li>
  2. History of Refs, June 2018, http:\/\/www.nbra.net\/about-the-nbra\/history\/<\/li>
  3. Honkasalo, M, Sorry, Old School Guys: Modern Day NBA Players Are Better Than Ever, March 11, 2018, https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/2016\/03\/11\/why-nba-players-are-better-than-ever\/<\/li>
  4. Goldberg, R., NBA Last Two Minute Report, The Pudding, June 7, 2018, https:\/\/pudding.cool\/2017\/02\/two-minute-report\/<\/li>
  5. 2017-18 NBA Officiating Last Two Minute Reports, June 1, 2018., http:\/\/official.nba.com\/2017-18-nba-officiating-last-two-minute-reports\/<\/li>
  6. Reynolds,\nT., NBA D-League to Experiment with 4 and 5 Person Crews, December 12,\n2016,  https:\/\/defpen.com\/nba-d-league-officiating-crews\/<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Authors: Kevin Sigler Corresponding Author:Kevin Sigler, PhD601 College RoadDepartment of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[976,291],"tags":[597,1458],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4btio-1Di","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5862,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/nba-players-pay-and-performance-what-counts\/","url_meta":{"origin":6280,"position":0},"title":"NBA Players’ Pay and Performance: What Counts?","date":"August 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Authors: Kevin Sigler and William Compton Corresponding Author: Kevin Sigler, PhD 601 College Road Department of Economics and Finance Cameron School of Business UNC Wilmington Wilmingtomn, NC 28403 siglerk@uncw.edu 910-200-2076 Kevin Sigler is Professor of Finance in the Cameron School of Business, UNC Wilmington William Compton is Professor of Finance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","img":{"alt_text":"Table 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesportjournal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Table-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":450,"url":"https:\/\/thesportjournal.org\/article\/nba-gambling-inefficiencies-a-second-look\/","url_meta":{"origin":6280,"position":1},"title":"NBA Gambling Inefficiencies: A Second Look","date":"January 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"William Compton, Kevin Sigler ### Abstract Our study used the log likelihood ratio methodology proposed by Even and Noble (2) to test the market efficiency of both point spread betting and totals betting for consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons from 2000\u201301 to 2007\u201308. 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